Neck warmer

ABSTRACT

A neck warmer is provided with a subset of indicia from a character&#39;s face to provide the appearance of a complete character face when worn by a child. The neck warmer appearance provides the advantage of encouraging children to wear outdoor protection garments such as the neck warmer by creating the appearance of a custom. Accordingly, the warmer of the invention provides a significant advantage in encouraging children, who are usually reluctant to wear such garments, to wear a neck warmer during cold weather.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to environmental protection garments, and more particularly, to a children's neck warmer.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Children enjoy dressing up in costumes and pretend that they are various characters. Usually a child would wear a mask and other accessories as part of the costume. As many parents know, motivating a child to dress up in a costume is not difficult; it is removing the costume that is usually the greater challenge. Hence, children are naturally inclined to accept dressing up in articles of clothing that are part of a costume.

It is also known that children are susceptible to colds and other ailments when not properly protected from environmental hazards such as cold, wind, and rain. Therefore, children, as well as adults, should wear proper garments which protect them from these environmental hazards. However, it is difficult and frustrating for parents to motivate a child to wear articles of clothing which provide this protection.

SUMMARY

Therefore, in accordance with the invention a garment for protecting the wearer from cold and wind is provided, which resembles a mask of a costume. Particularly, the garment is a neck warmer which depicts features of a character's head, starting just below the eyes. Accordingly, when the child wears the neck warmer over the nose, to properly protect the neck and face, an appearance of a character's face is provided by having the child's eyes in place of the character's, thereby completing the features provided on the neck warmer to provide a complete character face. These and other advantages of the invention will become apparent from the description below.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a neck warmer in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 2 illustrates a neck warmer as worn by a child to provide an animal face costume.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a neck warmer 10 in accordance with the invention, which is intended to depict features of a cat's face. The neck warmer 10 is generally made of a synthetic material adapted to retain heat while providing a soft interior surface, such as that provided by fleece, as is know in the art. The neck warmer is preferably provided as an elongated cylindrical shaped sleeve, having an upper rim 12 and a lower rim 14. As may be appreciated, the teachings of the present invention are applicable to various neck warmer constructions in addition to the illustrated warmer.

The neck warmer 10 is preferably arranged to have the appearance, when worn and viewed from the front, of a complete character head. As an example, the head of an animal may be simulated. To provide this appearance, feature of an animal, aligned with the longitudinal axis of the cylinder, are provided substantially along half of the warmer's circumference. Preferably, the features are aligned so as to create the illusion that the character's eyes are to be located just above the upper rim 12 of the neck warmer 10. While markings may be drawn, painted or embroidered onto the surface of the neck warmer, greater realism may be achievable by the use of simulated noses and ears suitably formed, for example, from fabric or a plastic material.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, when the wearer's eyes 14 are just above the warmer's upper rim 12, a simulation of a character face is provided. As may be appreciated, the appearance of the neck warmer 10 in accordance with the invention encourages children, who are normally reluctant to wear any form of neck protection, to wear the neck warmer. The features provided on the illustrated neck warmer surface include the character's mouth 16, nose 18, tongue 20, and whiskers 22. The neck warmer 10 is thus of practical advantage, as well as being of novel and attractive appearance.

It will be appreciated that, by using different combinations of eye, nose, mouth and ear designs and colors, neck warmers giving the appearance of a wide variety of different toy or real characters may be produced. For example, the warmer may be adapted to give the appearance of a cat, a snowman, a rabbit, a dog, a tiger, or a clown.

Although the present invention was discussed in terms of certain preferred embodiments, the invention is not limited to such embodiments. A person of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that numerous variations and combinations of the features set forth above can be utilized without departing from the present invention as set forth in the claims. Thus, the scope of the invention should not be limited by the preceding description but should be ascertained by reference to claims that follow. 

1. A neck warmer comprising: an elongated continuous cylindrical sleeve portion having an exterior face, a lower rim, and an upper rim; and said exterior face having indicia suggesting the appearance of a character, said character generally including eyes and facial features below the eyes, said indicia comprising said facial features below the eyes, including at least a mouth indicia and a nose indicia but not including the eyes, said features are positioned on the exterior face, between said lower rim and said upper rim, the nose indicia is positioned on said exterior face closer to said upper rim than the mouth indicia, and said mouth indicia is positioned on said exterior face closer to said lower rim than said nose indicia, the mouth indicia positioned on the exterior face so that, when worn by a user, the mouth indicia aligns with the approximate position of a user's mouth while other portions of the cylindrical sleeve completely surround the user's neck to warm the user's neck.
 2. A warmer according to claim 1, wherein said sleeve portion is formed from a fleece material. 